The risk of tuberculosis in patients with cancer.

Current US guidelines for the management of latent tuberculosis infection in cancer patients are based on studies from 1970s, yet much about cancer care has changed in the interim. In a review of our experience during the past 25 years, we found that incidence of tuberculosis varied significantly according to country of birth and cancer type. Foreign-born patients with underlying hematologic neoplasm had a tuberculosis rate 50-100 times higher than US-born patients, whereas US-born patients with an underlying solid tumor had the same tuberculosis rate as US-born persons without cancer. These findings may help guide the management of latent tuberculosis infection in persons with cancer.